The ‘petrified’ driver who was ‘one of the worst’ drivers to test a Formula 1 car in 2016

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The dream of thousands of young racing drivers is to one day reach Formula 1.

It takes a huge amount of skill, perseverance – and typically a small amount of luck – to earn one of the 20 seats on the grid.

Kimi Antonelli, Oliver Bearman and Jack Doohan are the three rookies who will graduate to the top level of the Formula pyramid in 2025, each with differing levels of experience in F1 cars.

Antonelli has been undergoing vigorous testing with Mercedes, while Bearman already has two Grand Prix under his belt, deputising with Ferrari and Haas this year.

However, in the past, a lot more testing could take place allowing drivers to get to grips with the car and allowing teams to work out whether they had the next great driver within their ranks.

Journalists Chris Medland and Nate Saunders were speaking on the Pad Hoc Podcast about one driver who demonstrated very quickly that he wasn’t up to the task of racing in F1.

During the 2016 season, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were battling at Mercedes to win the championship and took each other out at the Spanish Grand Prix, handing Max Verstappen his first victory on his debut for Red Bull.

After the race, a test took place that allowed several teams to experiment with young drivers that could have a future in the sport.

Unfortunately, Force India – now Aston Martin – quickly discovered that Alfonso Celis Jr. wasn’t up to the task.

READ MORE: What Lawrence Stroll ‘couldn’t believe’ he was seeing during his first visit to Force India’s F1 factory

Alfonso Celis Jr. was ‘petrified’ during his brief time as Force India development driver

Talking about that test day in 2016, Medland said: “Some great names on this test, by the way, I’m glad you flagged it.

“Jordan King for Manor had a drive. Alex Lynn in the Williams, Alfonso Celis Jr. for Force India.”

Saunders replied: “He is one of the worst drivers that’s ever driven in Formula One. Isn’t he? He was so bad.”

Medland added: “He’s only 28 and he’s already retired.”

Saunders continued: “Yeah. I mean, bless him. He seemed like a nice kid, but he seemed he seemed like surprised that he had been given the opportunity.

“It was like, what are you expecting? He’s like, Oh, I don’t know. Just, uh, it’s gonna be quick.

“And you could immediately tell like this guy is not mentally ready to drive a Formula 1 car around this circuit. He looked petrified.”

Medland concluded: “Yeah, that does remind me was it at Silverstone when we interviewed him? And I want to say he was five seconds off the pace, if that’s right? We did the interviews with him afterwards and asked how do you think it went?

“It’s like, yeah, I think really good. Hopefully, I’ve proven to them that I’ve got what it takes, and I’ll get a drive.”

Alfonso Celis Jr.’s unfulfilled racing career after 2016 Force India stint

Mexican driver Celis Jr. was part of the Force India set-up in 2016 after a stint in GP3 the previous year.

He finished 12^th that season, with Esteban Ocon winning the championship and three-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou winning the final race of the season.

Celis Jr. took part in six free practice sessions for a cash-strapped Force India team but was never close to the required pace to be considered as a full-time driver in the future.

A brief stint in IndyCar in 2018 appears to be the last time Celis Jr. took part in a top-level series after failing to be retained beyond the 2016 campaign by Force India, despite taking part in a pre-season testing session at the Circuit de Catalunya.